A Suitable Place For The Murals

Our Towns

Hartford & Neighbors

July 30, 1993

The Adajian-Munson murals deserve a home, one where they will be on view to the public and where they are safe and well maintained. The paintings of fanciful, exotic scenes were done nearly 50 years ago for the former Adajian's restaurant on Asylum Street in downtown Hartford. Remarkably, they are being restored by the painter himself -- Thurston Munson, still vigorous at 87.

Hartford has lost much of its architectural, artistic and commercial heritage as businesses have closed and landmark buildings have been knocked down. The closing of the flagship G. Fox & Co. building on Main Street in Hartford is a recent example. Luckily, preservationists scrambled to save cherished features of the department store's interior.

The murals, owned by the Adajian family, need a place, too, even though the 14 panels may be too large and too numerous for Hartford-area museums to display. Also, as their creator acknowledges, they are not so much fine art as decorations.

A private collector might step forward, drawn to the colorful murals during an upcoming tour of the country as part of a retrospective of Mr. Munson's work. But tucking them away in someone's home or office, even if that were to ensure their preservation, would not be the best use of them. The paintings were meant for viewing, for a space that people frequent; they were created for a restaurant, after all.

Perhaps someone contemplating a tony new restaurant in or around Hartford will take the good advice of Wilson H. Faude, the executive director of the Old State House: Hang the murals and create a unique atmosphere, a place where the walls would be as intriguing as the food ought to be